Like millions of Americans I’ll be voting in the next few weeks, which means it’s time to talk about political texting.
Yes, political texting has gotten a bad rap. The explosion of texts has caused many (notably John Hall and Allen Fuller) to raise alarm bells that donors are getting over-texted.
This is a long term structural problem that does need to be addressed, but the GOP risks throwing the baby out with the bathwater over the next 39 days if we don’t fully utilize texting to win.
Forget for a moment the explosion of spam texts. The original use case for political texting was Get Out The Vote and event invites. It worked for the Democrats in 2016 then RumbleUp and others brought the same tech to the GOP in 2018. Democrats have been out-texting Republicans over the summer and may out-text them this fall.
Targeted GOTV texts work (I’ll post links to case studies below for both GOP and Democrats).
Here’s how to target the different audiences for GOTV:
Donors can be relied on to vote, but even still, a GOTV text to these lists can switch up the ask (Go Vote! as opposed to Please Donate!) and provide a critical opportunity for the campaign to THANK the donor for voting. Thanking donors and voters regularly is critical for building multi-cycle relationships. One smart tactic is to use up extra money after a result, win or lose, to thank supporters and keep them engaged.
Outside of the small subset of GOP donors, GOTV texts have proven to be the most reliable and ROI-efficient way to turn out low propensity voters on the GOP side.
The biggest missed opportunity cycle-after-cycle is sustained persuasion messaging - especially using videos in the text message and individualized graphics/gifs. Not enough campaigns invest in this strategy, but in close races, it makes the difference, and there’s still time to do it.
Finally, GOTV texts are perfect for reacting in real time to breaking news and changing conditions on the ground. In the wake of Hurricane Helene, we can learn from what happened during Hurricane Michael in 2018. Our texting efforts helped ensure tens of thousands of citizens were still able to vote despite the storm’s disruptions, which in turn helped win DeSantis the governorship, while also connecting them to disaster relief resources (see first case study below). Unfortunately we can expect plenty of disruptions in the next 39 days - texting provides a direct response solution, right through election day (alerting them to changed voting locations or reminding them to stay in line and their vote will be counted).
Smart texting tracks AB/EV data so once a voter has voted you can stop texting them GOTV reminders.
So yes, over-texting some audiences is becoming a nuisance, but the fact that texting is still a powerful activation channel for fundraising shows its strength for the most powerful activation of all: helping people vote. Texting right can absolutely flip races our way in the final stretch.
GOP campaigns need to reinvest the money they’ve raised with texting to WIN with texting.
CASE STUDIES:
Disaster Communication: RumbleUp Wins AAPC People’s Choice Award for Hurricane Michael Aid
GOTV (Multilingual Texting): Why Multilingual Texting Won 3 Gold Pollies
GOTV & Persuasion: The 2023 Textie Awards: Celebrating The Best of P2P Texting in 2022
GOTV: How Checkmate Strategies Flipped NJ LD-8 with P2P Texting
GOTV: Five GOTV Messages Proven to Work
GOTV, Fundraising & Advocacy: The 2021 Textie Awards: The 9 Best Uses of P2P Texting
Primary GOTV & Inter-Organizational Mobilization
Primary GOTV: RumbleUp P2P Texting Secures Razor-Thin Victory in Utah Primary
Democrat texting: 5 Impactful Examples of Peer-to-Peer Texting from Progressive Campaigns
Persuade with peer-to-peer texting technology
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